Dedicated to dining: Five local food-service veterans

Tuesday

Nov 27, 2012 at 3:20 PM

Kris JohnsonStaff Writer

Food-service employees deal with customers' money and their food — two things where you want someone on top of their game. So for this week's Big Fun, we decided to spotlight five of the area's most tenured food-service workers at a single spot. These locals have unrivaled work ethic, preparing, cooking or serving meals for 20 years or more.

Joseph Smith, 51, has worked at Plantation Inn in Houma for 31 years. His co-workers have good things to say about Smith's hard work and loyalty to them, the customers, as well as the company. Smith said he doesn't have just one job at Plantation Inn. “I cook. I do maintenance. I do a little bit of everything,” he said. But Smith said his main reason for staying on this job for so many years is his family. “I have kids and grandkids I'm trying to teach how to be responsible. I work for them. It shows them dedication and work ethic,” he said.

For 22 years, Gloria Johnson has prepared food at Dave's Cajun Kitchen in Houma. Johnson has a hand with all the seafood and grills the steaks, and in 2010, the 55-year-old received the Louisiana Restaurant Association's Legends Award, an award for employees who have worked at least 20 years at a single restaurant.Johnson said she's stayed at Dave's so long because of her love for the food and culture. “I just love what I'm doing. It's cooking the food, the atmosphere, the people I serve and the people I work with,” Johnson said. “I just love it.”

Dwayne LeBoeuf, 48, is a faithful employee to Daniel's Fast Food in Bourg for 31 years. His wife, Nikki, describes him as “one of the hardest workers you will ever meet.”“I like to cook,” Dwayne said. He said it's the answer he gives anyone that questions how he could work at the same place for so long. Daniel's Fast Food, Dwayne said, has played an important role in his life. He started the job the summer between his junior and senior year of high school. After graduation he was offered an offshore oil job. “I didn't take it, and about two months later, in 1982 when the oil field crashed, I realized it was good I didn't go,” Dwayne said. “If I would have left, there's no telling where I'd be now.”

Yvonne Smith may not have served food in a restaurant. But her job, no doubt, required just as much work. A Terrebonne Parish School Board employee, Smith fed thousands of hungry students at Vo Tech High School for two years before beginning a 30-year career at Pointe-aux-Chenes Elementary. This academic year is her first in retirement. Among teachers and throughout the community, Smith is known for her bread. On Nov. 10, Montegut Elementary School celebrated its 100th birthday and asked her to make her homemade bread. “Everybody loves my bread,” she said, not giving up what makes it so tasty. “People always ask me to make it, and I don't mind helping.”

Bob Dungan, 63, has worked at the Lunch Basket in Houma for 30 years. His job no longer requires cooking or serving the food. Dungan said he now oversees the daily operations. The people and the opportunities to talk and interact are what Dungan said has kept him at the Lunch Basket for so many years, adding that he has to pull himself away from the fun to get his hands dirty sometimes. “I'm more into PR and standing around talking to the customers when they come in. That's what I like to do,” Dungan said. “But I help out whenever I need to, if we're shorthanded.”

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